The Assistance
by Taylor Marin
Summary: This fanfic was written right after #45, so it doesn't have any of the changes that were made recently. I'm only posting the first five chapters right now, but the others will come soon. Please read and review!
1. Chapters 1-5

Chapter One  
  
My name is Marco. Marco the cute. Marco the witty. Marco the king of Nintendo. Marco the brilliant. Marco the Animorph. I coined that term, Animorph. Just another way for you to see how brilliant I am.   
Well, if you're reading this you probably already know about the Yeerks. In case you don't though, I'll still tell you. Not that you really want to know.  
The Yeerks are aliens. They really look like big, ugly, gray slugs. But they're much worse. Yeerks take over your brain. They crawl into your head through the ear canal.   
Then, they take over. They squirm and squish into every little nook and cranny of your brain. Suddenly, you can't move your legs. Then your hands… Eyes… Mouth… Everything is taken away. It's like being paralyzed, completely paralyzed. All you can do is think.   
Now, you hear the creature start to laugh. You realize you are remembering things and thinking about them without actually trying to. The Yeerk is doing it. Suddenly you see some lie you told your mom when you were five. You see the time you ate five pieces of cake at a birthday party and threw up all night. You see the time you saw Old Yeller and actually cried. All the things you thought you'd forgotten, or at least had tried to forget.   
Well, so much for the short version. Anyway. This is where we come in. We means me and five of my friends. We are the Animorphs. We were told about the Yeerks by a dying Andalite prince named Elfangor. He gave us the power to morph. Our one true weapon against the Yeerks. Any animal we touch, we can become. Our job is to stop the Yeerks from taking over the world. Your life in freedom depends on four kids, an alien, and a bird. I wouldn't want to be you.  
It was a Friday night, and we were looking forward to a long holiday. Monday was a national holiday and Tuesday there was going to be an all day teacher conference. So, we were all at the mall. Cassie and Rachel were shopping in The Gap. Actually, Rachel was shopping; Cassie was just being dragged along. Me, Jake, Tobias and Ax had just left the comics store and were going to the food court where we planned to meet up with Rachel and Cassie.   
I was actually at the mall, too. I couldn't go as my cute self, however. See, the Yeerks think I'm dead. So, I'd been able to acquire Jake, Lewis, and some other guys. Ax taught me how to 'mix' the DNA to create a totally new person, enabling me to be able to actually leave the woods. While I wasn't quite as cute, this morph would still probably attract some girls.  
Anyway, as we walked to the food court, we saw this girl in the Cinnabon shop begging for more buns. She was running from table to table asking for money so that she could get more rolls. It was not a good idea to act crazy in the mall. I could already see the guy behind the counter bending over to push that little silent alarm thing that calls mall security.   
Hearing the commotion, Rachel and Cassie came over a little faster than they would have. Cassie being Cassie came to our little group. Rachel being Rachel went straight to the girl and put her hand on her shoulder. I could tell it wasn't exactly meant to be comforting, but to get her to relax and shape up.   
"Its ok," she said to the bystanders. "I know her. She probably just forgot her medication again. I'll get her home." To the girl she hissed, "Look, I don't know who you are, but stop struggling and come on unless jail seems like a nice place to spend the night!"   
Maybe it was Rachel's smile, maybe her confident manner of authority. Maybe it was the girl's submission. Whatever it was, the crowd dispersed, allowing Rachel to take the girl by the arm and half drag, half walk, half run her to the door. We followed one by one, trying to look casual. Rachel and the girl were waiting for us on one of the benches out front.   
Cassie and Rachel waved to one another, Cassie giving them an inquisitive glance. When we were within earshot without having to shout, Rachel suggested that we all go over to Cassie's for a while. "I figured it might be fun to hang out," she said, "Get to know each other a little better."   
"Forget relaxing this weekend," I muttered.  
  
  
Chapter 2  
  
  
We walked to Cassie's house. Man, when you're used to flying, then have to walk a great distance for some reason or other, it's exhausting. We did get to talk some on the way. Hard to talk through huffing and puffing.  
Rachel, Cassie and the new chick walked ahead of us boys. The rest of us hung back some, but not much. We still needed to hear what was going on.   
"Sorry about what I did at the mall," Rachel said, "I probably was over reacting just a tad."  
Over-reacting my foot. Funny she only apologizes to girls.  
"Oh, that's quite all right," Newbie replied, "I must have been a sight. I got…slightly carried away." She blushed.  
Slightly carried away. Sure.  
"My name's Laria, by the way."  
"Rachel. Pleased to meet you. This is my friend Cassie."  
"Oh, and I'm Marco," I said, "And this is Jake, Tobias, and, uh, Ax."  
"Yes, I am Ax," Ax said helpfully, "I am Pri- I mean Jake's Cousin."  
Great going Ax.   
"Prince Jake," Ax said, not too quietly, to Jake, "I have approximately four minutes and thirty-five seconds left in morph."  
Laria's eyes bugged out. Not that I was surprised. Laria's reaction to Ax's name didn't surprise me much, either. If she was an Andalite, she probably wouldn't exactly be accustomed to human names.  
"Right," Jake said quietly to Ax. Then, to the rest of us he said, "Um, us boys have a couple things we should do. We'll catch up with you guys in the barn." (By this time we had almost reached Cassie's house.)  
"Later," Rachel said.   
We went ran through a neighbor's yard so as not to be seen by the girls. Then, we went behind the barn. We couldn't be seen because there is a row of juniper bushes that border's Cassie's and her next door neighbor's yards. There was probably a two to two-and-a-half foot space between the bushes and the back of the barn. Cassie took note of our position and entered the barn in such a way that Laria wouldn't see us. Ax de-morphed.  
Rarely does anything get to Jake. Now, He was ticked. "Ax, what were you trying to do back there?" Jake demanded. "Are you trying to give us away?!"  
Prince Jake, Ax to us, I believe Laria to be an Andalite. Her behavior indicates that my assumption is likely to be accurate.  
Jake was starting to cool down. He was still mad, but didn't look ready to tear Ax apart anymore. Definitely a good thing. "And if you're wrong?" Jake demanded.  
If I am wrong, and I am not often so, we will-  
"Figure something out," I said, finishing his sentence. "But right now, Ax morphs again, we go in there, and find out about this Laria girl. You know, Fearless Leader, I think it might be a good idea to watch her for, what say three days? Then we'll know for sure."  
"Right. Ok. Sounds like a plan," Jake was now much closer to the cool cucumber I'm used to. "Tobias, Ax? Think you can do that?"  
Will do, Tobias said. He'd had to demorph too, and was again that fearsome hawk we've all come to know and love.  
"I will do anything to help my prince," Ax. Remorphed.   
"Alrighty then boys and girls! Let's go meet another potential alien!" I said and slapped Jake on the back.   
Jake had Tobias stay outside to keep guard and make sure it wasn't another Yeerk trap. It wouldn't be the first time. The rest of us went inside to talk with Laria.   
  
Chapter 3  
  
  
We walked into the barn. Cassie and Laria were sitting on some hay bales. I guess Rachel would rather have sacrificed comfort for clean pants, and she was siting on the floor of the loft. It looked rather empty up there, so I went and sat with her.   
As we entered the room, Rachel looked quizzically at Jake. She must have been asking where Tobias was or something, because Jake made a slight nod to the roof. Rachel nodded back. Cassie, noticing this correspondence, said nothing. Laria didn't seem to notice he was missing.   
"So, Laria," I said, "Where do you live?"  
"Oh, uh, close-by," She said evasively.  
"I see. Do you go to our school?" I asked, "I haven't seen you there before."  
"School?" She questioned, "Oh, yeah, right, school. Um, no I uh, just moved here."  
This answer that began with a confused question told me a lot. She sounded like she was unfamiliar with school.  
"From where?"  
"A ways away," She said, again really avoiding my question. She was nervous. Very nervous. Cassie put her hand on Laria's shoulder reassuringly. Laria jumped. Normally, I would have laughed. I mean, it was a rather comic scene. Six kids sitting around in a barn interrogating this totally freaked out teenage girl. Under the circumstances though, it wasn't going to make me laugh.   
I was about to ask another question, but Tobias called us outside. Uh, guys? he said, there's a blue scorpion deer person at the edge of the woods. Looks kinda like someone we know, but I'm not sure.  
I knew who that someone was. The only other Andalite on earth. Visser 1. Previously Visser 3. He killed Elfangor. He was trying to kill us and take over the world. This was not my day.   
Rachel and us boys went outside, insanely and futilely hoping Laria and Cassie would stay inside. We knew Rachel would come outside. She would never miss a fight. We went behind the barn as four normal kids. Soon, we were a grizzly bear, a tiger, an Andalite, and my favorite, a very big gorilla.  
Tobias informed us that the Andalite was running off. He must have heard us opening the barn door. Want me to follow him?  
Yeah, Jake replied, Yeah, do that. See any Hork-Bajir? Taxxons?  
No, and that's what's funny, Tobias mused, Visser 1 doesn't usually go anywhere without his bodyguards, but there's no sign of other aliens and I didn't see the blade ship, just heard something in the woods. I thought it was probably a deer and didn't think too much about it, until I noticed it was blue.  
Yeah, well, deer ain't blue, I agreed. Guys, wouldn't it be easier if we just called him back?  
No, Jake said, It could still be the Visser. Call him back and then, if it is the Visser he'll know for sure. He may not have seen us morph, but he probably heard us in the barn. He might think we were in morph, but maybe not. It's too risky.  
Just then, Laria came rushing out of the barn with Cassie on her heels.   
Yaaarrrriiinnnn!!!!!! We heard a thought speak yell. Ruuuunnnnn!!!!  
I didn't know a 'Yarin.' Neither did any of my friends. That left only one option. Laria. She must have forgotten not to 'broadcast' her thought speak. You see, thought speech is like e-mail. You can direct to everyone, a few people, or just one person.   
The Andalite stopped… Tobias reported, He's coming back!  
The Andalite soon emerged from the woods. Laria? he said, Are you all right? Cassie had discreetly hidden behind a bush. The rest of us were quiet, trying to figure out what was happening.  
Yes, I'm all right. Laria could thought speak as well as talk because she was in morph. You're a fool! Didn't I tell you to run away? Have you gotten your sense of direction confused? Laria was very mad.  
I am not disoriented, Yarin said calmly, And I heard your warning. But did you expect me to abandon my sister on an alien planet when she was in danger? Besides, you would have done the same thing for me.  
She sighed. Yes, I suppose you're right. I was just so frightened. I'm sorry I lashed out at you. Laria began to demorph.  
It's all right, Laria, Yarin said, Where did your friends go? He sounded concerned.  
Jake stepped out from behind the barn, in human form. "Who are you really?" he asked. We all demorphed and came out, except for Tobias, who stayed hawk, and Ax who morphed human.  
Well, I suppose there is no point in avoiding the subject any longer, Laria said. My name is Laria-Corass-Fanatur. This is my brother,   
Yarin-Tulara-Estrillam. for some reason, Ax looked startled when he heard their names. But there were more important things going on. I couldn't let that bother me. We are aliens, called Andalites. Laria paused. You are not frightened? she asked.  
"We are familiar with Andalites," Jake said. Not exactly the right thing to say. Laria's stalk eyes began frantically searching for Hork-Bajir, or Taxxons, or something. She looked terrified and ready to run away.  
Yarin was startled, but soon was able to regain his composure. He was angry. Yeerks, he growled, I should have known it was a trap.  
"We are not controllers," Ax said calmly. He began to demorph. We fight the Yeerks, he finished.   
You are Andalites? Laria questioned. The 'Andalite bandits' perhaps?  
I am Aximili-Esgarouth-isthill, Ax said, I am an Andalite. We are the so-called Andalite bandits.  
Why do your friends not demorph? Yarin asked.   
Jake answered, "Because we are not in morph."  
You are nothlits?   
"No. We are humans."  
They were appalled. Aximili?! You broke the law of Seerow's Kindness?  
Ax replied, No. It was my brother, Elfangor-Sirrinial-Shamtul. When he was about to die at the hands of the current Visser 1, he gave these humans the power to morph. He felt it his only option if this planet was to be saved. Why are you here? I could tell he was confused. We all were. It's not every day an Andalite shows up at the Mall.  
Yarin spoke, The Andalites received your z-space transmissions on the home world and we came to help you in your fight against the Yeerks.  
Where are the others? Ax asked.  
Well, to be honest, Laria replied, They don't exactly know we've come. I'm only an aristh, but Yarin is a warrior. Almost.  
But you are a female, Ax said.  
Yarin answered him, It has been decided that females should be allowed to fight. True, they have smaller tail blades, but war is rarely about tail fights anymore. Females can handle shredders, morph, and steer ships just as well as males.  
"Do the other Andalites know you've come?" Rachel asked excitedly, "Are more coming? Will there be more here to assist us?!"  
No, Yarin answered, if they had known, they would not have let us come.  
"Why did you come anyway?" I asked, "I mean, I'm sure there's plenty of fun stuff to do on your home planet."  
This fight is personal, Laria replied. We are here to free Visser 1's host.  
"Why?" I asked.  
If I am correct, Alloran-Semitur-Corass is their father, Ax replied.  
Yarin nodded. We are the children of Alloran. We would be honored if you would help us in our quest. You all are greatly admired by every Andalite aristh. They all want to be like you. You have done great damage to the Yeerk forces.  
"We will help you in any way we can," Jake said.  
I said, "Or, as Rachel would put it:"  
Rachel finished for me, "Let's do it!"  
Chapter 4  
  
  
It was getting late, so we all went home for the night. Laria and Yarin assured us that they had already constructed a scoop.  
The next day, we met at Taco Bell. We got our food and sat down. I was preparing to enjoy my taco and nachos when this kid walked up. Just an average kid I suppose. Not to tall, not to short. But we knew this kid. His name was Erek King. He was a Chee. He always came around to inform us of trouble. The Chee are androids. They help us by giving information, but that's about all they can do because they are programmed to be pacifists.  
Suddenly, I didn't feel like eating anymore.  
"Hi guys!" Erek's hologram said, "Mind if I sit with you?"  
I raised my hand. "I mind!" I said, "That is, unless you are inviting us to a birthday party, or to go bowling, or do something fun."  
Jake said, "Just sit down, Erek. What's up?"  
The air shimmered a little as Erek projected a hologram around all of us so that we looked and sounded normal, not as though we were talking about Yeerks.  
"Uh, Jake?" I said, "Before Erek gets us ready to fight, shouldn't we introduce him to our new friends?"  
"Oh, I already know them," Erek said, "And so do the Yeerks."  
We stopped breathing for a few seconds.  
"What do you mean?" Cassie asked.  
"I mean that the Yeerks saw their ship land and have been looking for them ever since. They don't want your force growing any stronger. You've already damaged their forces, and they don't want you doing any more. They're really starting to see all your battles add up. Destroying the Kandrona a while back. Then the Yeerk pool on the Hork Bajir home world. The Anti-morphing ray. Stalling World War III. They know you've infiltrated the school, and Visser 1 has decided you are his next priority."  
"I'm honored," I said sarcastically, "Visser 1 thinks I'm more important than the conquest of Earth."  
"I'm not through yet," Erek said. "He plans on doing everything in his power to catch and kill you. He doesn't want you infested, but killed."  
"Yeah, that does make sense," Cassie said, "If we were infested, we'd challenge him. Seven more morph capable bodies? He's not going to let that happen. Better to just get rid of us."  
Erek nodded his steel and ivory head. "They are developing sensors that will not only detect morphing energy, but anyone who is able to morph. Luckily, they aren't finished. Yet."  
He let that word 'yet' hang in our brains awhile.  
"Well, what are we waiting for?!" Rachel practically shouted. I couldn't help but wonder how soundproof holograms are. "Where are they building it and lets go smash it!"  
"Therein lies the problem," Erek said, "We think the Yeerks might have detected us among their ranks. While they don't know we're Chee, they do know that you know almost every big thing they do. They know there must be traitors. They are keeping this extremely hush-hush and only top controllers know what's going on."  
I grabbed his arm. "Erek," I said, Would Tom know?"  
"Probably. He's pretty high up in the ranks. There's even been talk of him becoming a sub-visser."  
"Ok then. I'm forming a plan. Maybe you could figure out when Tom's Yeerk's next feeding is. Then maybe you could have your Yeerk 'feed' at the same time as Tom's, and you could take a second Chee with you, only you could extend a hologram around the second Chee so it looked like it wasn't there. You could somehow get rid of your Yeerk for a while. When Tom's Yeerk fed, the other Chee could look like you and extend the hologram around the real Tom. Then, you could look like Tom. When it was time for the Yeerk to re-enter Tom, you could take it, tap its brainwaves or whatever and learn where the new ray thing is being built!" I concluded triumphantly.   
"Yeah Marco!" Rachel said. We exchanged high fives.  
"That's a lot of 'maybes', "Erek said, "but it might work. I'll look into it and get back to you tomorrow."  
He put his hologram up again and looked like a normal boy. He said goodbye, and one by one, we all went home.  
  
  
Chapter 5  
  
  
I was underground, locked in a cage. I was with three others, a man, a woman, and a girl, about my age. She was crying. I went over to her, trying to comfort her. Suddenly, two Hork Bajir opened the cage and grabbed me. They dragged me away, kicking and screaming to a steel pier. I knew what would happen there. I feigned submission and defeat. Then, when we were almost to the pier, I twisted and jerked free. Free! I ran for the stairs. Suddenly I heard this alarm.  
BBRRRRIIIINNNNNGGG!!!!BBRRRRIIIINNNNNGGG!!!!  
I awoke with a start, breathing heavily. I glanced at my watch. It was nearly 1:00 in the morning. BBBRRRIIINNNNGGGG!!!! Oh. The phone.  
"Hello?" I said groggily.  
"Hi, Marco?" Jake, sounding nervous and stressed. "You know how we were planning to get together tomorrow? Um, well, I thought it would probably be better to do it now, if that's okay."  
I was definitely awake now. The little guy in the adrenaline pumping house had just put all the valves on full power.   
"What! Oh, uh yeah. Sounds good," I said, trying to sound casual. "I'll be right over."  
I quickly shed my outer clothing and morphed to owl. Generally, I prefer osprey, but it was a new moon that night and cloudy, resulting in virtually no light. I soared out of the Hork-Bajir valley, then to Cassie's barn.  
"What took you so long?!" Rachel demanded.   
"Well, Xena, I came as fast as I could. Besides, Jake and Erek aren't even here yet," I pointed out. "Where are Laria and Yarin?"  
"They're going to sit this mission out," Cassie said, "I don't think they have any morphs with enough firepower. I was planning on taking them to the Gardens tomorrow…"  
Just then, Erek and Jake walked in.  
"Okay," Jake said, "I was just about asleep, when I heard Tom making a phone call. I guess he thought everyone was asleep. They were talking about doing something, who knows what it was, at 3:00 this morning. But Tom said that's when he was going in to regenerate. I called Erek, then you guys."  
"And here we are," I concluded.   
"Right," Erek said. "It's almost 1:30 now. That gives us about an hour and a half to come up with a plan."  
"This isn't the time for fire power," Jake said, "That'll come soon enough. But we should probably have some of us ready to morph in case something happens."  
"Yeah," I said, "Besides, Rachel's gonna want to watch this."  
"But what about the Gleet biofilters?"  
We all looked at Cassie.  
"I mean, you guys must be forgetting there's no way to get past them."  
"Yeah, unless we morph fleas and crawl up Erek's nose or something like we did with the cows," I said.  
Rachel gave me a disgusted look. "Only you would come up with such a disgusting idea."  
"Well, that wasn't even the practical one. The practical one is even more disgusting," I said. "Ax, the Gleet Biofilters detect Yeerks, right? Not specific Yeerks, just Yeerks in general?"  
Yes, Marco. What are you suggesting?  
"Well, dare I say it…" I took a deep breath and slowly continued, "Cassie has a Yeerk morph… And Erek has a Yeerk…There's six of us, and we could kinda do three and three, girls with girls, guys with guys. I mean, don't know about you, but I don't want Rachel poking through my brain."  
"It could work," Jake said, "It's the most disgusting idea ever, but it could work. I guess we'd better take a vote. I say we probably should."  
"Let's do it!" Rachel, of course. No one was surprised.  
"I guess so," Cassie said, "It's the best idea so far. It's definitely not my favorite, but it seems the most practical."  
"Well, it was my idea, so I kinda have to vote yes," I said, "It won't be the most disgusting thing I've ever done."  
"Oh?" Rachel said, "Like what else?"  
"Eh, you know, morphing cockroach, crawling into a cow's nose, sitting next to you…"  
I felt a sharp pain as Rachel's foot connected with my shin.  
"Back to business…" Jake said, "Tobias? What about you?"  
I definitely don't like the idea. He said, But it probably is the best. Don't ask me to enjoy myself, though.  
"Ax?" We all looked towards him. This would be very hard if he agreed. Just for the record, Andalites and Yeerks aren't exactly best buds.  
I must say I do not like the idea. I despise it. It is a horrifying thought. He paused, But, I follow my Prince. And I trust you, my friends. I will never want to speak of this in the future.  
"Does this mean yes?" I asked.  
Yes, Marco. Ax said softly. Yes.  
  



	2. Chapters 6-10

Chapter 6  
  
  
We paired up. Rachel was with Cassie, I was with Jake, Tobias was with Ax. Then, we flipped coins to decide who would morph.  
"Heads!" I called. Jake flipped the coin. I didn't see Lincoln. Jake was happy. "Two out of three?" I begged.  
"Sorry buddy," Jake responded, "You get to be a slug."  
"Hey, Marco," Rachel said, "Won't be too bad. Not a big change for you."  
"Very funny," I muttered. "You get off easy. Cassie already has a Yeerk, so you're home free. Cassie, could you please find some embarrassing memories or something?" I growled. "Where is that slug?"  
"Over here," Erek said, "In this bucket of water."  
Tobias and I had 'lost'. Although, who knows? Is it better to be a Yeerk or a Controller? He perched on the edge of the bucket, and I stuck my hand into the warm water. The slug was down pretty deep. I took a deep breath, closed my eyes, grabbed, then acquired the Yeerk. I lifted it out of the water so that Tobias could touch it.  
"All right, what now?" I asked.  
"It's about 2:15." Erek said. "We don't want you guys to morph yet, in case anything happens down there. We want to give you as much spare time as possible. I have to go get 'my father'. He agreed to help. You guys wait here for us. We'll be back soon." He started to walk away, then turned. "You might want to try morphing the Yeerk so you can get used to it." He said. Then he left.  
"Just so you guys know, I most assuredly do not want to morph a Yeerk to practice," I said, "But I will."   
Ditto. Tobias said.  
"I've already done it," Cassie said, "But it's been a while, so I'll do it again." To Tobias and I she said, "Do you want to know what to expect?"  
"No," I responded, "No I definitely do not want to know."  
I began the morph. The first thing that happened was that my skin turned gray and was covered with this disgusting slime. Not like slug slime, where only the underside is covered, but all over slime. It covered my eyes, and I was glad. I didn't want to see what happened. I didn't want to see my friends' faces as they watched. Next, I felt all my bones dissolve, and I sunk to the ground. My normal human insides also dissolved and I was kind of filled with slime. There were a few startling seconds when my lungs and heart disappeared, and I was sure I would die. My arms were sucked in and my legs twisted together. Finally I shrank, and the morph was complete.  
AAAAAHHHHH!!! I screamed , AAAAHHH! Oh, Aah! My skin is drying up! This is not good! Help! Someone!  
We were all undergoing the same problem, but only Cassie knew what to do. It also didn't help that I couldn't here or see anything because I had no ears and eyes.  
Jake! Cassie screamed, Rachel! Ax! Someone! Put us in the bucket of water!  
I felt myself being lifted, then set down again, and my skin stopped burning. Okay, that was so not fun! I said. Then, Jake? I guess I'm ready when you are… Uh, Cassie? Tobias? We should decide who goes first. I mean, we can't exactly tell people apart… We decided Cassie would go first, then me, then Tobias.I felt vibrations as something large went into the water. It was removed, then something else was put in.   
Marco? Cassie said, That thing in the water is Jake's head. Swim towards it, then let the Yeerk take over.   
Okay. I responded. Here goes.  
Stretch-scrunch. Stretch-scrunch. I swam until I felt something that could have been an ear. I felt around until I found an opening and crawled in. I secreted numbing slime to the ear canal. Stretch-scrunch. Stretch-scrunch. I crawled to the brain. It was tingly with electricity. I stretched and squished my body into the nooks and crannies of Jake's brain. I lifted my host's head out of the water and looked around the barn through his eyes. I heard a noise.  
Marco? It's Jake.  
Irrelevant. Block out the host. Search his memories and find the way to act like him. Try moving the legs. Walking. The arms. Talking.  
Marco it's Cassie. Listen to me. I know Yeerk instincts are subtle, but they're strong at first. Control your morph, not your host.  
What? Huh? Oh, yeah. I'm okay now. I said. I relaxed my hold on the host body and let Jake take over again. I felt bad for Jake. This must be hard for him. He'd already been a controller once. Without thinking, I lifted Jake's hand to his eyes and focused on the watch. 2:30.   
"We've been in morph about 10 minutes," I said using Jake's voice. "Erek and Mr. King should be back soon."  
Marco! Jake said, Relax! Let me do the controlling. It's my body.  
Oh, right. Sorry dude, I said. Have at it.  
Right then, Erek walked in the door.  
Erek? I said, Where's Mr. King?   
Erek shimmered, then two 'people' stood where.  
"Hi guys!" Erek said, "Did I fool you?"  
"Sure did," Rachel/Cassie said.  
"Where is everyone?" Erek asked.  
Well, I said, I'm in Jake, Cassie's in Rachel, and Tobias is in Ax. Speaking of which, we should probably demorph now.  
I walked Jake over to the bucket, turned his head sideways, and slithered out. I demorphed. Tobias/Ax and Rachel/Cassie did the same.  
"Eyes!" I said, "Legs! Arms! Ears!"   
I was happily ranting about how glad I was to be human again, when Erek said, "Sorry to burst your bubble, Marco, but it's 2:45. You all need to morph back so we can leave."  
"I knew it!" I said. "It always works that way."  
I morphed back to slimeball and crawled into Jake's ear.  
What now? I asked. I mean, we don't exactly know the nearest Yeerk pool entrance.  
"That's easy," Erek said, "New community center's locker rooms. Jake, Tobias, Marco, Ax, I can show you guys. Rachel, Cassie, just watch some true controllers. They'll know the way."  
Ax morphed to human and we left. We all knew where the community center was, so we spread out, trying to seem inconspicuous. I tried to slow Jake's walking a little without him noticing, but he did.  
Marco, quit!  
What? Come on, I'm just trying to delay my death by a few minutes at best.  
This was your idea.  
Did I ever say it was a good one? I just said it was practical. I checked the watch. Five of 3:00. Good.  
We were nearing the community center. I said to Jake/myself, "This is it." And we walked in.  
Chapter 7  
  
  
I followed everyone else down the stairs to the boys' locker room. (Jake had let me take over for a while. Yeerk instincts are pretty subtle, but very strong, like Cassie said. It was hard not to take over.) I walked into a door in the back corner of the locker room and through the Gleet Biofilter. No problem.  
I said to Jake, Now, I won't say we're invincible, because that would be like writing my death sentence. But I will say we made it through the first obstacle. Now all we have to do is get out of the regeneration line, get me out of here, prepare for battle morphs, find out where the sensor thing is being built, destroy it, and save the world!  
Marco, Jake said, You know why I like you so much?  
My good looks? My humor? My charm?  
Your optimism. Lets get going.  
Finally, our chance came. We broke from the line and wandered back behind one of the storage sheds where we couldn't be seen. I turned my, I mean Jake's head, and slithered out. I began to demorph. The first thing that happened this time was my eyes. I did not like having to watch me emerge from a Yeerk. The expression on Jake's face definitely did not help. So far, everything went as planned and no firepower was needed. Rachel was bummed. This was too easy and we all knew it.  
Erek/Tom was going to the re-infestation pier… He successfully got Tom's Yeerk… Then I realized my deadly mistake and mentally kicked myself all the way to Australia. Mr. King/Erek had the real Tom contained in his hologram. Sooner or later, he would have to be 're-infested.' There was no way Tom could be holographically covered with Mr. King across the room. Now I realized an even more serious problem. Once Tom was re-infested, the Yeerks would know about the Chee. Chee are strong, but a dracon beam could still probably take them out. We couldn't let that happen. We needed the Chee. The Chee provided us with information. They were powerful allies. Without them, we wouldn't have survived this long.   
I motioned to Jake. "I need to talk," I whispered, "We can't let them hear. Morph cockroach, or something that wouldn't seem unusual here. It's the best way."  
Jake saw how frantic and pale I was and nodded. I morphed and he morphed. As soon as he was through, I explained to him what I just explained to you. I could sense his growing terror. I was sure he had already sensed mine. We've got to find the others. I concluded. I'm going to call them. Rachel?! Cassie?! Tobias?! Ax?! If any of you can hear me, this is Marco. We've got a problem. Morph something small and inconspicuous. We need to thought speak.  
A few minutes later, they all responded. Jake explained our predicament.   
Well, duh. Rachel said. We go over there, bust open the cage, grab Tom and Mr. King, then run!  
Oh, yeah, good idea Rachel! I said, Let's go show the Yeerks where we are so they don't even have to try and find us before they kill us! I was mad. I've found that people do have a tendency to be mad when they make mistakes that will probably cost them their lives.  
Maybe morph Hork-Bajir and pretend to be the guards preparing to take him over for re-infestation but instead… No, that wouldn't work… I tried to think, but I was brain-locked. Rachel was the one who usually came up with on the spot plans, but right then, she wasn't.   
One thing I do know, I said, Is that we have to free Tom. It's really our only option if we still want to be able to have the Chee help us. Now we have to figure out how to do that and still get him, us and Mr. King out of here alive.  
And how exactly do you suggest that we do that? Rachel demanded.  
Watch me, Rachel. You'll like my idea. Mr. King! I called out, When they come to re-infest you, have Tom walk behind you. Explain just enough to keep him quiet. We'll try to charge in and nab you both, then go up the stairs. It might work, but it's dangerous. We have no choice.  
He couldn't respond. I could only hope he could hear me and would do it.  
All right guys. Jake said, If we're going to do this, we need to do it now. Everyone, morph something with firepower and hope they haven't already taken Mr. King!  
We morphed out then morphed again. Jake morphed tiger, I morphed gorilla and we looked toward the cages. Mr. King was still there, but right then, a human-controller and two Hork-Bajir were walking towards his cage. The human began to unlock the cage.  
Get ready… Jake warned. ….NOW!  
We charged toward the cages. The Hork-Bajir were startled. Everyone was. They had no reason to expect us. A wolf leapt at the throat of a Hork-Bajir. And Andalite tail flew and the remaining Hork was now headless. His tail flew again, and the controller slumped to the ground, unconscious.   
Poor guy. He was out cold before he had time to lock the cage again. A stream of freed human controllers poured out. They weren't afraid of us. Every Yeerk on Earth knows of the Andalite Bandits and the hosts find out about them through their Yeerks. Some of the humans even tried to break into the storage sheds and grab the dracon beams.   
I grabbed Mr. King, Tom, and one of the humans in a big old gorilla hug.   
Suddenly, a wave of controllers armed with dracon beams appeared. Taxxons charged in. The freed humans were being recaptured by Hork-Bajir and stuffed into the cage again.   
The tide was turning and we were losing. Cassie was near a shed and was limping behind it, blood streaming from a gash in her side. Rachel was surrounded by Hork-Bajir, standing on her hind legs and flailing her grizzly bear arms in an effort to ward them off. Ax's tail was flying wildly as he moved toward Rachel, trying to help her. Tobias was swooping down on Hork-Bajir, raking at their eyes, hoping to slow or stop them. I didn't even see Jake.  
Then, he appeared. I didn't even see him at first but I could sense him. We heard him laugh, a deep, evil laugh.  
Ha-Ha-ha! Welcome back, my Andalite friends! Things have been so quiet here without you. You know, I was just thinking the other day how nice it would be to have you come visit. His voice turned low and menacing. I wanted to show you my new morph.   
He began to morph a hideous creature. It stood probably ten feet tall on six, long, tree trunk legs. It's skin was a bright red-orange and was thick and pebbly like a crocodile. It had no torso, but atop the legs was a thick, triangular box with hollow, spear shaped tubes covering its sides. At the front of the body were the eyes. They appeared to be covered with thick glass domes, like the cameras at a grocery store, only it wasn't dark, but a misty blue.  
Suddenly, one of the hollow spears shot out at Ax. He dodged, and the spear missed hitting him by a hair.  
Oh, too bad I missed. You would have enjoyed watching how fast this poison works. I doubt that you Andalite fools would even have enough time to demorph before you were killed. It certainly killed enough Hork-Bajir when they tried to capture it so that I could acquire it! I'll be sure not to disappoint you next time.  
Chapter 8  
  
  
Now, Visser 1 was joined by two more aliens who snuck up behind him. They were similar in shape to Hork-Bajir without blades. Their feet were webbed and there were tentacles coming out of their 'hands' not fingers. Their coal-black skin was stretched tighter than a drum. They looked like almost harmless stick figures. There were two, forward-raking black horns with very sharp looking points on their foreheads. They stood as tall as the Visser, if not slightly taller. They were armed with shredders.  
Abruptly, one of the aliens' mouth opened revealing a glowing royal-blue mouth. A stream of acid shot at the Visser. He screamed in agony. He behind him and prepared to shoot a spear at them. They had seemingly disappeared. Then, from the ceiling, two more streams of acid pierced his thick hide. These creatures had suction cups on their webbed feet and tentacles.  
The creatures shot at some nearby Hork-Bajir with their shredders and sent acid streams flying. We didn't know who or what they were, but they didn't seem to be threatening us.  
Aximili! one of them called, Jake, Rachel, Cassie, Marco, Tobias! We have come to assist you!  
Laria? Yarin? Jake asked.  
Yes, we are here, Yarin said, It appeared as though you had need of our assistance.  
But how did you- Wait, never mind. Tell me later. We're a bit busy right now, Jake said. There was a loud roar as Jake attacked an oncoming Hork-Bajir.   
Jake, buddy, I said, We've got to get out of here while we still can! I don't know how long I'll be able to hold onto Mr. King and Tom and still be alive.  
Right, Jake replied. We'll run for the stairs as soon as we can. Marco, go to the stairs and send Mr. King and Tom up. If we're lucky, everyone will be too busy to notice…  
Oh no…. I realized, Oh man. The Gleet Biofilter will still zap them and us on the way out!   
Ax, would shredder fire disable the Biofilter? Jake demanded.  
It should be able to, yes. Ax said.  
Laria! Yarin! One of you get to the top of the stairs and fire at the Gleet Biofilter! Jake yelled.  
They didn't respond, but I saw one of the aliens bolt for the stairs.   
TSEEEEWWWW! TSEEEEWWWW! KABOOOOOMMM!!!!  
There were two blasts followed by a loud boom as the Biofilter and part of the entrance exploded. Rocks and debris tumbled down the staircase. I wondered if the alien would be all right.  
I climbed up the hill of debris, still holding Tom and Mr. King. I set them down almost at the top of the stairs and they went out. I assumed Mr. King would go someplace quiet and safe and project another hologram that would make it look like they weren't there.  
I charged back down the hill, scraping and cutting my feet and knuckles. Jake had called the order to back off and retreat. Ax was on his way toward the hill. Visser 1 had disappeared. Rachel was limping hurriedly and painfully toward me. It looked like her hip had been partially smashed. Jake was missing most of his tail and had a gash on his back and was struggling away from the scene.   
One alien was already at the top of the staircase, pushing aside the rubble that had collapsed onto him/her. The other was crawling along the side of the domed ceiling.   
I couldn't see Cassie… Wait. There she was. A wolf had collapsed near the base of a storage shed and was lying there unconscious. Hork-Bajir were dragging it toward one of the cages. I knuckle-ran over to the scene and gave them each a massive gorilla punch. They went down and stayed there. I lifted the wolf as gently as I could, and raced for the hill. I could only hope she wasn't dead. There were no extremely severe injuries as far as I could tell…  
  
Chapter 9  
  
  
I actually made it up the hill alive. Of course, I did have a couple dracon beam wounds on my back and hind legs, and I was barely able to move, the pain was so severe, but I was alive.  
I looked around, but there was no sign of my friends. I searched every room, calling their names. Finally, I heard thought speak. It was kind of faint, but I could hear it.  
Marco! It said, This is Jake. Where are you?  
I'm over by the entrance to the swimming pool, I called, Where are you?!  
Over at the other end of the building. Some conference room. There's a hallway that runs all the way around the perimeter of the pool. Keep following it. You'll find us eventually..   
I kept walking poking my head in at every doorway, hoping I wouldn't collapse before I reached them. Finally, someone announced, in thought speak of course, that they saw me. I dragged myself into the room, set Cassie down, and began to demorph. Mr. King covered me with the hologram. At least Cassie was still breathing.  
Jake, I said as I morphed. We've got to get her to demorph. I don't know how much time she has left. I think they- Here I had to stop speaking as I crossed the theoretical line that separates thought speak from normal speech.  
"Ax," Jake demanded, "How much time does she have?"  
I am not exactly sure.. Ax said. At best it would be about seven minutes. She had to remorph shortly into the battle due to a wound. I was not even sure if Marco would be able to demorph. He had less than thirty seconds to spare.  
I nearly collapsed. I had made it out of morph by only thirty seconds?  
"Jake, I think they might have stunned her. It doesn't look like there are any really serious wounds," I said, "She's probably been out for a good ten, fifteen minutes. Now we just have to figure out how to get her to wake up.   
We didn't have to wait long, however, until the wolf stirred. Both the wolf and Cassie moaned, Oooohhh, oh, ow. Ow. Ow. She didn't need anyone to tell her to demorph.  
After the initial, "Yay! Cassie's alive and not stuck as a wolf!," the small smooch between Jake and Cassie that they pretended no one saw, etc. Jake said, "Well, so far so good. We're all alive and well. We are out of the sludge pit. We did a good amount of damage. Now we need to talk with Erek and see if he has the information we need. Oh, and one more thing. Laria, Yarin, thanks. We probably would not be alive right now if you hadn't shown up when you did."  
"But what I want to know," I said, "Is where you got that morph. Cassie said you didn't have any powerful morphs."  
Cassie looked embarrassed. "Um, well, I didn't exactly ask. I guess I just kind of assumed they didn't. When Ax arrived, he didn't have any morphs except for a Kafit bird," she pointed out.  
"Yeah, well, you could have at least asked them," I said, "But, I guess it turned out for the best."  
Laria answered my initial question, We acquired this morph on one of our moons, Sankor. When we prepared to come here, we stopped there to acquire this morph and one other. We thought they might be useful. . It is called a Zakriem. Sankor turns very slowly, leaving one side dark for months at a time. This is where the Zakriem live. When the planet has turned so that they are in brightness once more, the Zakriem merely migrate to the darkness again. They really are fascinating creatures to study.  
"Right," I said. "Fascinating."  
"Anyway," Jake said, "We agreed to meet Erek at the barn as soon as we could, so I guess we should head over there if you're ready."  
I noticed Tom, sitting quietly in the corner. I knew how he must feel. I'd watched my dad get told. He was shocked to say the least. Tom seemed pretty cool, though. I guess it was because he already knew about the Yeerks and the 'Andalite Bandits.' I imagine what was most shocking was to find out that his little brother was the one doing the damage and leading the fight against the Yeerks.  
"What about me?" Tom asked. "Will you let me help in some way? Any way, anything to help in this fight. We've got to win. We have no choice."  
It interested me how Tom automatically figured himself into the equation. It was 'we' no questions asked. Our team had grown by three in only a day. Jake said, "Tom, if you want to help, you can. You certainly have enough reasons. We'll discuss it at Cassie's barn. Mr. King? You take Tom covered by a hologram out a back entrance or something so that the Yeerks won't see. We'll morph fly and follow you. Once we're out, take Tom to the barn. We'll fly ahead and meet you there."  
"I can do that," Mr. King said.  
It was now about 3:30 AM. I couldn't help but wonder if Jake would let us stop at Starbucks on the way over to the barn…  
Mr. King decided to project a Hork-Bajir. If anything happened, he could pretend to be a controller searching for the Andalite bandits. Once, another Hork-Bajir came by, but it saw nothing unusual about more than one Hork-Bajir searching the place for us.   
Once we were outside, we flew behind a dumpster, demorphed, and remorphed as owls. Mr. King projected a dump truck around Tom and himself.  
We flew in silence, trying to gather our thoughts together and recuperate from the battle. We were all exhausted. My thoughts were jumbled. Two Andalites, Tom free, morph, demorph, remorph, do it again, try to get out alive… It had been a long night.  
  
  
Chapter 10  
  
  
I'd love to say I solved all our problems on the trip to the barn, but, truthfully, I wasn't much help. None of us really were. We just flew and tried to stay awake.  
What are we going to do about Tom? Rachel asked, unnecessarily. We all knew what we were thinking about.  
I don't really know… Jake said slowly.  
We'd just had a long ordeal with David, the only other person besides Ax, to be added to our original group. He had not been interested in helping us, and tried to kill all of us. Making Tom an Animorph was the most obvious choice, but after what we'd been through, we weren't exactly excited about the thought.  
Oh man! I yelled, We did it again! Every single plan just gets-  
Jake cut me off. Marco. he said in a very leader-like tone, What. Is. It??  
Apparently, Cassie realized it too.   
Oh, great. The Yeerks don't know Tom is free, but they'll definitely suspect when Tom's Yeerk doesn't come for a feeding. They'll grab him again, and we're doomed. She said it so matter-of-factly that it only made things worse. The only thing I can see us doing is pretending to kill Tom, and have him live with the Hork-Bajir like Marco's Mom and Dad.  
I can't see any other option either, Jake said slowly, But I'd sure love to discover some other, less painful plan… I mean, I wouldn't exactly want to put my parents through that. Besides, how exactly would we pull it off?  
I was pretty sure that at this point, Cassie was privately talking to Jake, trying to cheer him up and comfort him. Cassie's like that.   
I waited a little while, then decided to break up the mushy moment. Okay people! Back to business! I have a few ideas.  
Go ahead, Jake said.  
I said, Okay. Tom's "death" has to be silent, with no body, like my mom. Tom doesn't go boating, so that's out. He could theoretically get lost in the woods on a hike or campfire, but eventually, they'd have to find something. A fire of some sort would work. But how? We wouldn't want to do arson and burn your house down or something. What about his car?  
Jake replied, Okay. I had you for a while there, but as far as his car is concerned, what in the world are you talking about!?  
We crash his car late at night, then burn it! If it's done in a remote enough area, no one would see. Then, the car would be like, totally burned and they'd think that he'd burned up!  
That might work, Cassie said cautiously.  
No, no, it really would! I said, Tom's 'Yeerk' needs to regenerate on what, Wednesday? So we could just make it seem like his Yeerk put off regeneration for some reason or other till the last minute. At like, one in the morning, Tom could leave the house and drive the back route to a Yeerk pool entrance. In the woods on a remote street he could have a crash for some reason. They'd probably assume he swerved to miss a deer. The car could slam some trees on the edge of the woods. After Tom was out and safe, we'd put a match on some newspaper left on the seat and light it. Eventually, the rest of the car would burn, too.  
Well, Jake said carefully, Tom will definitely not be happy about burning his car.   
Does this mean we're going for it?  
Yeah. I guess it does.  
When should we do it?  
I think we'll talk with Tom and Erek, then decide. Besides, we're just about to the barn, Jake said.  
We landed in the barn and demorphed. Erek was waiting for us, but Tom and Mr. King hadn't arrived yet.  
Everyone said hello, then we waited for Tom and Mr. King. It took them a good half hour or more to get here, but I didn't mind. Neither did anyone else. Some of us dozed off. Since all these changes began in the Yeerk conquest, we've hardly gotten any sleep. Generally, three to four hours on a good night. Needless to say, grades are down, parents displeased, and exhaustion is the norm. Even though I can't go to school, Dad has me copy and do most of Jake's homework then check my answers against his. Ugh.  
I awoke sputtering and coughing as Rachel dumped a bucket of brutally cold water on me. After she did so, she smiled sweetly.  
"Good morning, sleepy-head!" she said mockingly.  
"Whatever happened to sugar and spice?" I muttered angrily.  
"Children?" Jake said, "Please sit down and listen to the teacher. We don't approve of fighting in school."   
I sneered at Rachel, then moved to a dry seat.  
"All right," Jake said. "First thing on the agenda…Tom." He turned toward him. "The Yeerks still think you're a controller. That's good. It gives us three days to work something out." He hesitated, then continued, "Well, we had thought out a plan, but…"  
"Jake," Tom said, "You can tell me. At this point, of probably seen and experienced even more terrifying things than you. Not much scares me anymore."  
"But, Tom, I uh…" Jake was not being helpful.  
"I'll explain," I said. Jake looked relieved. "You see Tom, if you're 'Yeerk' doesn't come to feed on Wednesday, the Yeerks will just come nab you and Yeerk you again. They'll know about us and then the whole world, not to mention us will be-"  
"Yeah, I'd figured as much," Tom interrupted me. "So what are you going to do?"  
"Well if you'd let me finish, I'd have told you. You remember what supposedly happened to my mom, but didn't?"  
"Are you saying you're going to kill me?"  
"Not in reality, but yeah. Really, you'll come live with me and my Hork-Bajir friends. A little on the slow side, not the best chefs, but hey, Ax has cable! As I was saying…   
"We decided the best method would be a car accident. Of course, you won't be in the car at the time, we'll just slam it into a tree."  
"But there would still have to be a body, wouldn't there?" Tom asked.  
"Not if it's burnt up."  
"You're gonna burn my car?!" Tom demanded, outraged.  
"You got a better idea?" I responded. "It's either that, get yourself killed, or get Yeerked again and get us killed."  
"All right, all right. But what about Mom and Dad?"  
"We can't tell them," Jake said sadly, "What if they were taken by the Yeerks?"  
Tom nodded, "Well, when are we going to do this?"  
"I was thinking Tuesday night would be best. The Yeerks would think you were on your way to the Yeerk pool but had a car crash. I guess Mom and Dad would probably find out about it Wednesday."  
"Until then?" Tom asked.  
"Well," Jake replied, "The Yeerks have no reason to be suspicious, so I guess you just go home. As long as there were no special plans or anything that your Yeerk had made."  
"No special plans," Tom answered. "And I guess if something came up, I could just go as myself. I know how the Yeerk behaved, so that won't really be a big deal." He paused, then said, "It's just going to be so hard not to tell Mom and Dad."  
"I know," Jake said. "I know."  
"Moving on…" I said, "Erek. Did you find out anything useful?"  
"Well, several things actually. Most are things we already knew… But I found out where the ray is. You will be surprised."  
"Where is it?!" We all asked at once. (Of course, some of that was in thoughtspeak, but hey.)  
Erek replied calmly, "The school's attic. Apparently, they have a whole lab up there. Doing lots of tests and stuff. Trying to fix old inventions that didn't work, make new things, well, you understand. Now for the bad news. They are going to test it sooner than we'd thought. Tomorrow morning."  
I could have fallen asleep right then. Now we were talking about another all night thing. I wasn't looking forward to it.  
After we had gotten over the initial shock, Jake said, "Okay. That means they're going to test it Monday morning." He looked at his watch. "It's about 4:30, Sunday morning now. I suppose we should probably go home for now and catch up on that much needed rest, do chores or whatever to keep the parents happy, try to get a little more sleep and meet back here around, say, eleven tonight? We can go to the school from there."  
None of us were going to argue with a plan that involved sleep.  
We agreed. I morphed to osprey and flew back to the Hork-Bajir colony.  



	3. Chapters 11-13

Chapter 11  
  
  
Sleep had never been so welcome. Okay, well it probably had, but that night you could not have convinced me. I was probably asleep almost before I finished demorphing. I was so tired, I didn't even have the customary post-battle nightmares. At one point, I either dreamed or experienced my Dad trying to wake me up. But have you ever been able to successfully wake up a rock? Needless to say, I simply rolled over.  
I did end up waking at 7:00 that evening. Even then, I just lay on my back yawning and watching the sunset. I went and found my mom and dad, then opened some Campbell's and had some soup. Cold.  
I looked around the valley and watched the young Hork-Bajir as they climbed and jumped from tree to tree. The mothers were preparing some tree bark stew, or stroganoff, or spaghetti, or whatever dishes Hork-Bajir eat.  
I finally got very bored, so I went osprey and flew to Ax's scoop. When I was still about twenty yards away, Tobias called me.  
Hi Marco!  
Wait a minute, I said, How'd you know it was me?  
C'mon, Marco. I see an osprey, a water bird, flying like a dead duck. And I think to myself, Hmm. I wonder why this osprey is flying like a dead duck over the woods instead of the ocean. It couldn't be any of my friends, because I know they listen to my flying tips. Then I think, Oh wait. Forgot about Marco. He never listens to anyone. Yep. Has to be Marco. Either that, or an insane osprey.  
Yeah, yeah, I muttered. I had known they would know it was me. I come around frequently to talk and to veg in front of Ax's tv. What're you watching?  
Nothing much, Tobias replied, Ax is just channel surfing.  
I landed and demorphed. It felt very good to just hang for a while, even if it was with a bird and an alien. We watched TV, talked, then got bored, so we got ice cream from the Dairy Queen. It felt so good to do something almost normal.   
At 10:45, I decided to fly around and make sure everyone was at the barn. Rachel was not. So, I volunteered to fly to her house and see if she was still there. She was, and was fast asleep. I saw my opportunity to get back at her for what she had done that afternoon.   
I landed on her window sill. The window was closed. That was fine, I could make do.  
TO ARMS! TO ARMS! THE BRITISH ARE COMING! THE BRITISH ARE COMING! TO ARMS! TO ARMS! I yelled at her and banged on the window with my beak.   
She screamed and sat bolt upright. She saw me fly away, and the look of terror turned to a look that basically said, "Marco, consider yourself dead." She opened the window, morphed, and followed me into the night.  
Luckily, I had a good head start, or Rachel probably would have killed me on the way over. Instead, I flew as fast as I could to the barn, rushed in, demorphed and hid. I couldn't help but notice the looks of amusement given me by the others.  
Rachel flew in seconds later, demorphed, and screamed, "Where is he! MARCO!!! Get out here and I'll kill you quickly!"  
"Rachel, calm down," Jake said, "We have work to do, and I don't have time for you to go postal. Marco, you can emerge from hiding."  
I came out of the empty horse stall I'd hid in, and said, So you're saying I should demorph? I thought a gorilla would be less likely to tempt Rachel to violence. I could see the hint of a smile on Rachel's face. Of course, she wouldn't have purposefully let me see that, but I'd noticed before she had had time to hide it.  
Jake didn't say anything, but sighed and looked up to the ceiling in that classic gesture meaning, "Why me Lord?"  
I demorphed.  
When I had a mouth again I said, "So how are we going to get into the attic?"  
"Well," Jake replied, "It has windows, but they'll probably be armed with an alarm system. The Yeerks don't know we know about the ray's whereabouts, so I doubt there'll be a Gleet Biofilter set up there. Bugs maybe? Find a way to disable the alarm?"  
"Wait!" I said, "I've got an idea. I just remembered. A lot of boys sometimes climb up into the ceiling of the school. You know, when they think no one is looking. You can push up the ceiling tiles and climb up in there. We could climb up, then morph cockroach. A cockroach could certainly find a crack in the attic floor, and then we could just go right in."  
Rachel lifted an eyebrow at me and said, "How would you know about climbing up into the ceiling?"  
I thought about ignoring the remark, but then Rachel would think I had done it before, so instead I answered her by saying, "Oh, I saw Jake do it a couple times."  
Jake grinned and punched me in the shoulder. "Did not. We both saw Andy and Tap-tap do it once."  
I smiled back, relieved that he hadn't told them that Andy and Tap-tap had actually been showing me how to get in.  
"But how do we get into the school in the first place?" Cassie asked.  
"I am not doing ant again, no matter what anyone says," I said.   
Nobody said anything. That was bad. Bad, bad, bad, bad, bad.  
Cassie finally said something, but it wasn't what I wanted to hear. "You know, that probably is the best idea. Trust me, no one likes it any better than you do, Marco. But, with ants, we could morph right by a back entrance, then crawl under the door. The ant morphs we have would be nowhere near their own colonies, so they would be pretty easy to control. There also aren't many ants by the doors; too much traffic. It'd be easy."  
"Cassie?" I said, "Remind me never to tell you what it is I don't want to do. Whenever I tell anyone what I don't want to do, we do it. Murphy's law, I suppose."  
"Okay," Jake said, "Huh. I guess we'll just have to do that. We're wasting time, and we need to get this done. First of all, we need to find a cockroach and an ant for Laria and Yarin."  
Cassie went inside her house to see if there were any cockroaches. She came out a little later with a roach. I found an ant.  
Laria and Yarin acquired the cockroach and ant. Ax also acquired the ant. (We had only done ant morph once, and that was before Ax was with us.) Earlier that day, Cassie had had Laria and Yarin acquire some other useful morphs as well.   
The rest of us also acquired some new morphs. Pigeons. We had decided that even though birds of prey were generally faster, pigeons were more common and less conspicuous when grouped together.  
"Are we all ready?" Jake asked.  
We nodded.  
"Rachel?" I said, "Are you forgetting something?"  
"What?" She responded.   
"Oh, you know what I'm talking about. That trademark line, the one you always say before every insane mission."  
"Oh yeah. Almost forgot! Marco? Shut. Up."  
"Ha-ha. Wrong one."  
"Let's do it!!!"  
"Much better."  
We morphed and flew to the school. We didn't talk much on the way over. Just the typical pre-battle banter between Rachel and I.   
Soon we arrived at the school. We landed behind some bushes near the back door. The night was darker than a really dark thing. So, we demorphed, and were covered by the darkness. We rested a few minutes before morphing ant. Since ants don't exactly travel fast or far, we each went onto the porch and crouched by the door so that we were as close to it as possible.   
Tobias had not morphed ant. Jake decided it was best to have someone provide surveillance. Besides, a hawk wouldn't have been very good at destroying a ray. He would also help by directing us toward the door. Ants don't see too well.  
A troop of seven ants marched up to the school's back door, and then underneath. We couldn't tell when we had made it into the school, so we just kept marching for a really long time, until Jake felt sufficiently sure that we were inside. We demorphed about three feet from the door. We had to wait a few minutes to allow our eyes to grow accustomed to the minimal amount of light.   
"This way," I whispered and motioned for the others to follow.   
We went into a hall with lockers. They were nice and high, which would make it easier to climb into the ceiling. Ax, Laria, and Yarin morphed cockroach. We'd decided that would be easiest because it would be too difficult to have an Andalite climb up, and anything besides a cockroach would have to demorph before going into the attic.  
I climbed up onto one of the lockers and removed a ceiling tile. Cassie handed me the three roaches and I put them inside. Next, I climbed up and remembered to remind everyone to only step on the steel beams, not the tiles themselves. I won't say what reminded me.  
There wasn't much space, so I morphed as quickly as possible. Everyone else climbed up and did the same.  
Everyone here? Jake asked.  
We were.  
Okay then. Follow this beam of light. It'll lead to a crack up above. That's our ticket in.  
We scurried along until we found a crack, then climbed into it.   
When we were all in the attic, Jake said, Laria? Yarin? Ax? You guys demorph. There will probably be some controllers up here, so take care of them. Afterwards, tell us when to demorph. We'll stay somewhere safe in the meantime.  
Ax and the others demorphed. Now, roach hearing definitely ain't the greatest, but I swear I heard a couple "Andalites!" then some thuds. I definitely felt the thuds.  
The controllers have been taken care of, Prince Jake, Ax said. It is now safe for you to demorph.  
We did. "Whoah!" I said, "Look at this stuff! It's so totally Star Trek."  
"Well," Jake said, "I guess we should morph and take care of the ray."  
"Why don't we just smash the whole lab?" Rachel asked. "I mean, we don't even know which one the ray is."  
"And if we end up releasing some sort of chemical weapon or something?" I asked. "I don't think so."  
A chemical weapon is unlikely, Ax responded. Rachel had an 'I told you so' look on her face. A Quantum virus is also highly unlikely. I doubt there will be a problem if we destroyed the laboratory.  
Jake nodded. "Okay then. We go with Rachel's plan. We don't need battle morphs, just something that can wreck a lab well."  
I morphed gorilla to handle some of the big, heavy things. First, I stuffed the controllers into a closet where they couldn't see anything or get out. Some of the others just remained as they were. Most of us morphed chimpanzee. We figured hands with thumbs would be helpful.  
What happened next was like that scene in Tarzan. You know the one: a bunch of monkeys come and trash the camp. That's just what we did. It didn't take long.  
When we were finished, we exited the same way we had come in. Once outside, we morphed birds and flew off.  
Okay, now that was cool, I said, I'd say that's probably the first mission that ever resembled fun.  
Definitely, Rachel agreed. Let's do this again sometime, shall we?  
I just wish it had been the school lab, I said. As expected, there were a few agreeing laughs. It had been a good night. What we'd done had almost been a variation on normal teen behavior. Or what was normal for us. Oh, you know, same old, same old. Turn into monkeys and smash up a laboratory. I do it all the time.  
As we flew through the starry night sky, each of us said good night and separated from the others as we neared our own homes.  
Chapter 12  
  
  
The next day, Jake, Tom, Tobias, Yarin, Ax and I got together. I think the girls got together as well on their own. Anyway, we actually had fun. We went to a movie, got some cinnamon buns, then went to Jake's house and played a little basketball. It was great.  
As we did these things, I knew what everyone was thinking about. We were all thinking about a time when the war would be over. It would end, and if it ended the way we wanted, this would become normal.  
****  
  
That night we met together in Cassie's barn. Tom and Erek were there, too.  
"Tom?" Jake said, "We've all been considering something. You still want to help in this war, right?"  
"Yeah."  
Jake smiled his slow smile. "Then we have a weapon that will help."  
Cassie brought out the blue box. Jake said, "This is the device that will give you the power to morph. Just touch one of the sides."   
Tom took a deep breath, then placed his hand on it. The box began to glow. After a little while, the box stopped glowing.  
"Is that it?"  
"Yep," Jake answered, "Now all you have to do is acquire some animals."  
Cassie showed him some animals. Tom chose to acquire the cockroach because it was pretty useful as far as bugs go, a peregrine falcon, and a barn owl for night flying. He wasn't able to acquire any firepower morphs at the moment because we didn't have time to take him to the Gardens.  
"Okay then. Is everybody ready?" Jake asked.  
We nodded. "As ready as I can be, under the circumstances," Tom said.  
"Then let's go," Jake said. "Tom, you'll drive. We aren't going far; just a little into the mountains. We'll morph birds and follow your car. I'll give you directions. Erek? You ride with Tom."  
We agreed, then morphed night birds so we would be able to see well. Cassie held the barn owl so that Tobias could acquire it; hawks don't see too well in the dark.  
We flew quietly, almost as though we were going to a funeral. In a way, we were.  
We arrived at the designated spot far too soon. Jake had Tom park the car, then we flew down, landed next too it and demorphed. We had decided on a rocky area with no trees nearby so that the burning the car would not start a forest fire.   
Jake had Tom put the car in neutral. Erek pointed it in the right direction, then gave it a massive shove. It slammed into a large boulder, smashing the front end of the car and sending huge splinters of glass in all directions.  
We managed to get a back door opened and crumpled up some newspaper then placed it on the seat. We lighted the newspaper and watched as the flame slowly spread from the paper to the seat cushion to the rest of the car. When we decided it had definitely caught, we walked far enough away to be safe in case the flames reached the gas tank and exploded.   
We watched for a while, but it was pointless, so we morphed and flew away. Tom came with me to the Hork-Bajir valley, while the others went their separate ways.  
****  
  
Tom's funeral was held that Saturday. Ax, Tobias, Laria, Yarin and I couldn't go because it was going to be more than two hours. We did morph pigeons and sit outside much of the time, though.  
After the service, I flew to Jake's house. He went up to his room when he got home. He opened the window and let me in.  
After I'd demorphed, I said, "It will end. I don't know when, but soon. We'll be able to bring Tom back."  
"Yeah," He said sadly, "I know it will end. I just don't know when. Or how."  



End file.
